Pesek on his biggest research challenge: “When we first introduced silica hydride as a support material for HPLC, it was met with considerable skepticism. Many people thought it was unstable based on a false comparison to small organosilanes. In fact one reviewer made an amusing comparison to cold fusion. After more than 20 years of use in laboratories around the world, I believe that silica hydride has proved to be more viable than cold fusion.”

What his colleagues say: “Joe is internationally recognized for his contributions in the development of novel chromatographic separation materials and the development of analysis methods. The silica hydride technology he and his students developed for making liquid chromatographic bonded stationary phases has such unique properties that LC columns made by his methods are commercially available.”—Thomas J. Wenzel, Bates College